#Inspiration
The Art in Florentine hospitality
Skinwall wallpapaer in 31.10 ArtHotel
There is a place, in Florence, where art, innovation and design come together in a concept of hospitality where details are important to ensure a stay between history and culture. We are talking about 31.10 ArtHotel, a hotel created with the aim of celebrating Florentine artistic excellence, involving guests in an experience of total immersion in art, without neglecting the comforts and conveniences of modernity. The task of developing this extraordinary concept was entrusted to the interior design and decoration studio Maria Giulia Sala Interiors in Florence.
The journey through history starts from the name of the hotel, chosen to commemorate an act that entered history as a Family Pact. Family Pact is the document thanks to which, the Palatine Electress Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and the Grand Duke of Tuscany Stefano di Lorena, linked permanently the entire Florentine cultural heritage to the city. So, from 31.10.1737, it became impossible to export the works of art outside the city, because they were considered of fundamental importance for the education of citizenship.
After this prelude that already takes us to another era, we just have to go to the reception where, to welcome us, we find a multifaceted environment in which classicism, modernity and dreamlike visions merge into the space, inviting the visitor to cross the iron art nouveau gates portraits on the wall.
Once checked in, we just have to settle comfortably in the junior suite of the hotel dedicated to the creative genius of the Alinari brothers, famous Florentine photographers who, in 1854, founded the famous company destined to mark the history of Italian photography.
Alinari's initial production aims to raise awareness and disseminate the Italian cultural heritage. With this intent firmly fixed in mind, the Alinari begin to portray what gives value to their land: the monuments, the historic buildings and the spectacular Tuscan views. The success, pushes the Alinari to go further, photographing the most evocative places in Italy and the works of art encountered along their path. The careful eye and the sensitivity with which they managed to immortalize the soul of their subjects, earned them prestigious positions in the Vatican Museums and the Louvre. But the photography of the Alinari was destined to evolve further. Searching for subjects among rapidly evolving streets and squares, the Alianri witnessed a changing Florence, the capital of Italy in late '800, abandoning the ancient walls in favor of the large avenues. In this period, their portraiture production, which began a couple of years earlier, also takes hold.
The most representative shot of Alinari's portrait production is certainly the one depicting two men astride a tandem. The men wear elegant suits and the straw, an essential accessory for the men's fashion of the time. The face, portrayed in three quarters, shows us the concentration and coordination required for running a vehicle that was a real revolution for the time.
Finding this photograph on the bedroom wall of a suite, leads us to an era in which the search for modernity went hand in hand with the desire to immortalize the artistic heritage of a rapidly growing country. Those lucky enough to stay in this suite appreciate, in particular, the enchanting wallpaper and its combination with the ocher tones of the furnishings, and the honey of the floor. The overall effect is highly suggestive and does not lack a retro elegance, possible only thanks to the perfect balance of colors, obtained through the digital printing of the wallpaper. Furthermore, digital printing a wallpaper allows you to perfectly adapt the image to the wall it will decorate, guaranteeing a perfect correspondence between reality and project.
If you prefer more classic atmospheres, the choice can only fall on one of the Deluxe rooms of the hotel, among which we find the one dedicated to the fifteenth-century painter Piero della Francesca.
Piero della Francesca's spacious, monumental, rational and, at times, experimental painting is, without doubt, one of the highest achievements of the artistic ideals of the early Renaissance, an age where art and science were united by deep bonds. The skilful use of perspective made the artist from Sanseplcro one of the masters of the fresco. The absolute mathematical rigor of his creations enhances the abstract and iconic quality of his painting. Piero della Francesca's masterpieces also have a powerful sacral and evocative value, which is enhanced in the delicacy of the forms and in the harmonic composition of the narrative scenes.
Among the most representative frescoes of Piero della Francesca's pictorial production, we find Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta in prayer before St. Sigismondo, a work commissioned by Sigismondo Malatesta to adorn the Malatesta Temple in Rimini. The pictorial composition sees Pandolfo Sigismondo Malatesta genuflected in adoration of San Sigismondo. Behind him there are two dogs, one white and one black.
Thanks to some letters, miraculously reached us, found in the correspondence between the Medici family and Sigismondo Malatesta, we can assume that the noble from Rimini was not only a dogs lover, but that he had a prestigious breeding of greyhounds that were requested by the major nobles families of the time. These particular dogs, thanks to their physicality and the innate characteristics of infallible hunters, are synonymous of nobility and elegance but, in the pictorial context of Piero della Francesca, they seem to be charged with further meanings.
The symbolism linked to Sigismondo's greyhounds has been the subject of study for several historians and art critics. The most accredited interpretation sees the two greyhounds as a symbol of faith (Fides catholica) and vigilance (Fides publica), basing the hypothesis on the behavior and postures of dogs. For some, however, this interpretation appeared particularly reductive, especially considering the great passion that Sigismondo Malatesta had for philosophy and history. Furthermore, according to what was written by the architect Leon Battista Alberti, Sigismondo expressed the desire that the Malatesta Temple had to be imbued with philosophical matter "from walls to floor". The Polish Maria Rzepinska was the first art historian to hypothesize a dualism linked to solar and lunar mythology, elevating the two dogs to a symbol of beauty, youth, speed, and equating them with the splendor of dawn and sunset. If we delve even deeper into the details of the figures and carefully observe their lines, we can feel the strong aura of wisdom emanating from the white dog, and that of strength of the black dog. At this point, among the various theories, one wonders who is right. In our opinion, every work of art lends itself to infinite interpretations, if not, it would be a mere work of genius devoid of a soul.
The room of 31.10 ArtHotel dedicated to Piero della Francesca celebrates the most intangible nature of art, exploiting the image of the greyhounds of Sigismondo Malatesta, elevating the dogs to hosts and placing them to guard the rest and dreams of guests. The particular precision of digital printing and the attention to detail, return a delicate image that preserves the refinement of the original fresco, enhancing the character of the animals and highlighting their postures. Looking at the Wallpaper 505 - Piero della Francesca we seem to gain a new dimension, not only spatial, but also spiritual, reaching an awareness that can only be grasped in the works of talented Renaissance artists, of which Piero della Francesca certainly does part.
It is really difficult to return to the normality of home, once you are in the mood of 31.10 ArtHotel. Fortunately it is not impossible to bring within us a part of the atmosphere breathed on vacation. Both the wallpapers made by Skinwall for Maria Giulia Sala Interiors and 31.10 ArtHotel are in our online catalog and can be adapted to any type of environment. The variety of printing supports and the skill of our graphic laboratory, will be able to grasp and give value to your desires, helping you to make the environments places of inspiration and relax.
Skinwall wallpapers can also be laid in the bathroom or kitchen. Thanks to the wet system and the possibility to request customized images, you can set up a real tepidarium and decorate it with grace and precision.
When a Skinwall wallpaper enters the house, the atmosphere changes, the environment is charged with emotions, ideas begin to flow free and rapid in a continuous creative becoming, leading us to a renewed awareness of ourselves and of the world.
